Rose, do you know about me? I know about you
by Phoenix-Flower92
Summary: The story of Rose's twin. Is she aware that she has a twin out there? Or is she living just as oblivious as Rose was up until Dreamscape?
1. Every year, on this day

**Summary: It's the story of Rose's twin sister. Is she aware that she has a twin somewhere out there? Or was she living just as oblivious as Rose was up until dreamscape?**

Mom tells me about it every year, on this exact day. This year was no exception, I knew. I do not like the story she tells me, but I dare not speak up to let her know. Reminding me every year seems to hold her together somehow, knowing that I'm aware of it. Knowing that it's fresh in my mind.

Sometimes I wish she'd just let it go. It's always the same story. She could at least pick a different day to share the events with me. I don't even understand why she keeps telling it to me. I know the story and I know what happens.

It's not that I don't care, but it's the fact that the story is depressing and discouraging. And she tells it to me on the last day I want to be depressed. October fourteenth. My birthday. The exact day that the story took place.

I sat in History class, the last period of the day, doodling carelessly in my _What's News Today_ Notebook. _What's News Today_ was a 'fun' daily class starter that Mrs. Janlee had come up with. Each day someone had to bring in a newspaper article to share with the class. Everyone could choose which day that they wanted. I always chose Monday. It gave me the weekend. Still, History was no more exciting with all of her 'fun' assignments.

"_Lilly!"_ a harsh voice whispered to my left.

I turned as the boy belonging to the voice tossed me a note. I nodded, my silent way of thanking him. He grunted, clearly not happy with his messenger job. I unfolded the paper that had been folded into the shape of a football.

_Lil,_

_Sup, B-day gurl! What's poppin? Ur mom approve of my spending da night with u yet? Jus wonderin'…_

_Man this class is boring…ugh! Can't wait til it is over!_

_----Heidi_

I glanced up to look in the direction of my best friend. Catching my glare, I nodded and smiled to let her know that my mom had approved.

And suddenly it hit me. If I had company all night, maybe mom wouldn't tell the story _after all_. Because she only tells it to dad and me. No one else knows. I haven't told my friends—not even Heidi. We haven't told anyone outside of the immediate family. No, just the three of us know. So mom is surely not going to take the risk of allowing Heidi to know. Which means that, perhaps, I won't have to hear it until tomorrow…or at least, that's what I'm hoping for…

"Happy fifteen, Lilly!" Heidi exclaimed as soon as the bell rang to signal freedom from school.

"I'm fifteen today, too!" Hollis smiled as he walked into step with us as we made our way to the buses.

Hollis was Heidi's boyfriend last year. Heidi broke up with him, but it never did ruin their relationship. My bet is that they'll end up dating again, by the end of this school year.

"Oh, really?" I questioned, "Happy bir--"

"It's not my birthday," he cut in, a smile spreading across his face, "But I am fifteen today,"

Heidi rolled her ice-blue eyes, "He's been doing that to everyone lately, to friends…to teachers…to random people…" she explained.

"Ha-ha" I said to him, my tone edging near sarcasm, "Very funny,"

He shrugged, waving as he spotted his bus, "See you two later,"

"So," Heidi began as we boarded bus 80, "how's it feel to be fifteen?"

"The same as it felt to be fourteen," I answered with a laugh.

Since my house was the first stop for the route, Heidi and I arrived home within ten minutes. Heidi immediately ran over to my stash of birthday gifts.

At first, her excitement made me giggle. That was until I realized something. Uh-oh! A lump formed in my throat. I forgot that Mom doesn't like to neglect the girl from her story, even though she's not with us. So when she wraps the presents, half of them say my name. The other half are for her, the girl Mom tells me about every year. The girl that I'm convinced is dead, or doesn't exist at all. Or…is perhaps somewhere out there, yet I'll never see her.

As Heidi shook the packages one by one, all of a sudden, she paused. I braced myself, mind racing.

"Lilly--" Heidi questioned hesitantly, "why do some of these say To: Rose?"


	2. Mom, not with Heidi here!

_As Heidi shook the packages one by one, all of a sudden, she paused. I braced myself, mind racing._

_"Lilly--" Heidi questioned hesitantly, "why do some of these say To: Rose?"_

I gulped and completely froze up. Never did I believe that this sort of situation would ever occur to me. I'd always been so careful around everyone—especially Heidi, so that I wouldn't be faced with such a moment. What was I supposed to do? What could I say?

"Lil?" Heidi pressed, standing up and twirling around to face me, holding up a birthday-cake printed package addressed to Rose.

"W—uh…Rose…right. That's for, for…my cousin Rose! Yeah. My Mom's sister's daughter. Her birthday's today, too. I was supposed to mail her gifts by now, but I forgot. I was so caught up in the excitement of my birthday that I forgot about hers, so that's why they are still sitting in here." I braced myself once again, this time in hopes of Heidi believing me.

"Whoa! That's cool! You and your cousin have the same birthday? Your Mom and her sister gave birth on the same day?!! And you both have flower names? Wow!" She shrieked.

I let out a sigh of relief.

"Yeah…yeah, it's pretty cool," I said to her.

Heidi followed me to my room shortly after that, where we watched television while playing with each other's hair. I tied Heidi's long strawberry red locks into one of my signature messy buns, then I tried French-braiding it, though not successfully.

Heidi straightened my shoulder-length wavy blonde hair and painted my fingernails Pepto-Bismol pink. As if on cue, my Mom and Dad arrived just as she'd finished the last coat on my second hand. The smell of pizza floated from the front of the house back to my bedroom within seconds.

"Pizza's here!" Dad shouted, though there was no need.

Heidi had already rushed over to the wooden table, bringing her enormous appetite along with her. On the other hand, I took my time upon arriving in the kitchen, taking care to continually blow on my nearly dry nails.

"Hey, birthday girl!" Dad smiled when I did finally enter the kitchen, the smell of hot pizza even more prominent.

"Hey!" I replied, leaning in for a huge hug.

I took a seat next to Heidi and across from my parents as my Mom poured Heidi and I a glass of Mountain-Dew, and Dad placed a piece of fresh pizza on our plastic party plates.

As we settled down, Mom cleared her throat. "You know girls," she began, "While at work today, since business was extremely slow, one of my co-workers loaned me this fascinating read to pass the time…"

I paused in mid-bite of my pepperoni and pineapple slice of pizza, my throat suddenly closing up. I felt nauseas and light-headed as my blood seemed to refuse to flow correctly. I honestly hoped that where I thought Mom was headed with this story would be wrong. _Please Mom…_I silently begged with my ice-blue eyes, _not here! Not in front of Heidi!_

_A/N: Yay! Another chapter!!_ _Please review!!_ _Hopefully, if all goes as planned, the next_ _chapter will have some Rose and Jake in it!!! And I really will try to make the next chapter longer as well!!_


	3. At least change the names!

_I paused in mid-bite of my pepperoni and pineapple slice of pizza, my throat suddenly closing up. I felt nauseas and light-headed as my blood seemed to refuse to flow correctly. I honestly hoped that where I thought Mom was headed with this story would be wrong. Please Mom…I silently begged with my ice-blue eyes, not here! Not in front of Heidi!_

"Oh! I love to read! What was the book about?!" Heidi exclaimed enthusiastically, crusts of wet pizza flying out of her mouth because she hadn't bothered to chew them up and swallow before speaking. That was Heidi for you.

"Gross, Heidi!" I cried out.

I happened to have a deathly fear of germs. And pizza that has already been chewed in a human mouth is an absolute breeding ground for germs and disease and infection…it's disgusting…I shuddered.

"Whoops, sorry," She apologized, "I'll chew first next time."

"Yeah, sure you will," I joked.

Heidi smiled, returning to the original topic that I was praying she'd forget about. (Heidi has a short attention span.)

"So…what was this fascinating book about?"

"Well," Mom said, "It began--"

"Mom, please, don't _tell _her. Why tell her when she could read it herself?" I interrupted desperately.

"But I want to know _now_! C'mon, Hollis spoils books for me all the time. I'm used to it. I thrive on it."

I think the pizza must not have been made correctly, because there was a golf ball in mine. It became stuck in the center of my throat at that very moment as anticipation (and suffocation from the golf ball) slowly killed me. I couldn't breathe, I was going to die! I tried to calm myself down…_get a grip, Lilly…Mom won't tell THE story. Surely not. Not here. Not_ _tonight. Not with Heidi here…_

"Well," Mom began softly, "It began as a lovely story, but I must say, the ending shocked me. It was a definite twist, that's for sure. But anyways, there was a pregnant woman, whom was due to give birth to twin baby girls."

"Awe!!! How cute!" Heidi squealed.

Anyone who knows Heidi knows that she loves, loves, LOVES babies. She baby-sits nearly every weekend, sometimes for free. She claims that she wants four children—three girls and a boy. And get this; she has even picked out names for them. Skylar, Sierra, Samantha, and Shain.

"Yes, very cute." Mom smiled. Not a happy smile, but a sad smile. A sad smile that hid an enormous secret.

She was there again, I could tell. On that night. That horrible, disastrous night that she's kept secret for all of these years and now suddenly wanted to divulge to Heidi.

"Had she picked out names for them?" Typical Heidi question, of course.

"Of course, absolutely." Mom glanced over at me for a moment.

I shot pleading eyes her way as the golf ball magically transformed into a baseball. _Please, Mom, don't be stupid enough to keep the exact same names! Please, Mom, at least change the names! Mom, please, please don't! She's already seen the package addressed to Rose! If you don't change the names, she's smart enough to piece everything together!!!_

A moment of silence, pure agonizing silence, passed through the dining room, thickening the atmosphere. It was thick as if invisible smoke had drifted into the room from some invisible fire. My blood began to pound in my ears, and I swear that when I looked down, my t-shirt was occasionally moving up and down because my heart was pounding so incredibly hard.

"_And?_" Heidi anxiously pressed on, oblivious to the tension traveling around the room.


	4. The Story

_A/N: hehe…okay, so…it's been awhile. I realize this, and I'm not sure if anyone is even still reading this…but if you are, then thank you very much. I appreciate it and I hope you like this. But in my defense, I am currently in a college-leveled English course right now, and actually I shouldn't even be posting this right now when I have a ten-page paper due in three weeks along with various other papers that are due along with it. ____ lol. FUN!_

* * *

"_And?" Heidi anxiously pressed on, oblivious to the tension traveling around the room._

"And…" Mom smiled, breaking her glare with me, "And you're going to need to wait, until I get to that part of the story."

Heidi sighed, sitting back in her seat and crossing her arms with a pathetic pout. "Fine, fine!" she said, "Go on with the story."

Mom nodded, "Okay. So right, like I said, there was this pregnant woman that was due to give birth to twin baby girls. She was extremely ecstatic because she and her husband had been unsuccessfully trying for over a year to have children…"

I was barely even listening to the story this year. My mind kept buzzing around, my heart thumping into my ears as my hands beginning to sweat. I hated this. It was so stupid anyways—why couldn't Mom just get over it??? I knew I was acting harsh and insensitive, but still. The girl from the story, she wasn't coming back, she'd been kidnapped, and she could not be located. It only made it worse to dwell on it.

Heidi was on the edge of her seat, listening intently as Mom continued, "She'd painted the nursery in beautiful colors, light pinks and yellows and lavenders with flowers and rainbows and teddy bears, and two adorable cribs. She was as prepared as a first-time mother could be…"

Mom's voice began to break and I fought against rolling my eyes. I sincerely hoped she would not cry. It would not be realistic to sob over simply retelling a story she'd _read _at work.

"What happened?" Heidi questioned softly, Mom's emotions finally melting her hyper attitude about the story.

"She gave birth to two beautiful baby girls. Beautiful, healthy, identical baby girls. And they were everything to her. Her life was so wonderful, she'd never been happier in her entire life."

"But what's so sad--"

Mom held up a hand to silence my friend, "She was checking out of the hospital, both babies in arms when it happened. A man came out of nowhere. He wasted no time, not even a second. He took her! He stole her right out of arms! Kidnapped her!"

"Who? What? But--"

Mom had reached her breaking point. Her voice was hysterical, her eyes were wide, and she was no longer with us.

"That's the worst part. He was masked. She never saw his face, and no one else did either. He was frightening, though, intimidating beyond measure. And she feared him beyond anything. She allowed her fear to dominate her life, and therefore she never told a soul outside of her immediate family of what had occurred.

"She did not want that man coming after her, and she especially did not want her other baby daughter to be taken away, too. You have to understand. She was threatened. Her life had mutated into the worst of nightmares. Was that so wrong, though? Was that so wrong??? Heidi... Lilly...was it wrong for that woman to lie, to report to her friends and even family that one of the girls had not survived? To kill her off when she wasn't even dead?"

Mom covered her mouth with her hand as tears slid down her face. "Was that so wrong?"

Heidi sat in silence for a moment, and I almost believed that the story was over, that Heidi still would never know, would conclude that my Mom was merely extremely emotional, and that everything was going to be okay.

"Lilly. Lilly, and Rose." Mom mumbled, nodding her head, "Those were her babies. Those were _her_ babies. Both of them. And Rose was not meant to be taken away!"

Mortified, I sat as still as I possibly could, attempting to look casual, trying to pretend that I was not uptight and that nothing was out of the ordinary. But I did not succeed, and besides, despite Heidi's outward personality that resulted in the accusation of her being dumb, she in fact was not.

Heidi's eyes were wide, just like my Mom's had been, and she looked over at me, expecting some sort of response or something, and when that did not happen, she glanced back over at my Mom, and then at my Dad, and back to me, and then…then she just looked down, at her empty plastic birthday plate.

I myself decided to stare straight ahead, at the blank white wall as if it were the most fascinating thing that ever I had laid my eyes upon before. I starred, and I bit my lips, and I felt faint, as the silence grew deeper and deeper and more awkward by the second.

I had the strangest sense that, beside me, Heidi was opening her mouth, closing it, opening it again, and then closing it. A sigh escaped her lips in the end. For once, Heidi Lorraine Perkins, my loquacious best friend, was at an utter loss for words.


End file.
